DIII Plot/Analysis Discussion Here

Well, considering that an entire forum has been given to Diablo III, I thought it would be nice to take the time and review the possible plot outlines considering that I have not seen any thorough posts of this manner yet. So here we go:
Prime Evils and Soulstones:
First, remember that the primary reason the Diablo plot was able to continue was because of Diablo's Soulstone. Now, according to Marius in the cinematic (and Wikipedia), he says "I heard that Diablo was defeated, and the Soulstones destroyed." Notice the plural form of Soulstone. This means both Mephisto's and Diablo's Soulstones have been destroyed in the Hellforge and thus they cannot return whatsoever in Diablo III unless there is offered some new means to resurrect them which is highly doubtful (Blizz wouldnt want the plot to get rusty with the same big bad boss for three games in a row).
Now, it is never directly said that Baal's Soulstone was destroyed, therefore, it remains a possibility that he may be in Diablo III.
Lesser Evils:
According to the Diablo II manual, there were Seven Great Evils: three Prime Evils and four Lesser Evils. The Lesser Evils are: Andariel, Duriel, Azmodan, and Belial. Considering that Andariel and Duriel have already been killed, they will not be appearing again (unless of course, there is some form of resurrection which is doubtful). That leaves Azmodan and Belial which almost certainly will be in Diablo III (the game will need bosses you know). Now, it is known that Belial and Azmodan were at one point fighting a civil war against one another in Hell over who has the greater authority. Whether or not this aspect will be utilized in Diablo III remains to be seen.
Prime Evils' Offspring:
According to the Diablo novel, The Sin War, Mephisto has at least two known children: Lucion and Lilith. Obviously we have seen Lilith in Diablo II before, therefore, it would makes it very hard to determine if she would be seen again in Diablo III. Lucion, however, in my honest opinion, seems a very likely character that Blizzard will draw upon to be used in the storyline.
Worldstone:
This is the primary link that will support Diablo III's storyline. Considering that all the NPC's say in Diablo II that they do not know what is going to happen now that the Worldstone is destroyed, Blizzard has left the door very wide open for a new plot. My personal opinion is that, considering the Worldstone was said to have balanced the world between Heaven and Hell, the three planes will now begin to mingle and shift both the gameplay and storyline from focusing mainly on the mortal plane to encompassing new aspects of Heaven and Hell. This is why I believe there will be more focus on Angels and Demons (possibly even a playable one?), and why you may see more Fallen Angels as possible bosses of some sort now that the war between Heaven and Hell is escalatign because there is now very little of a barrier in between the two planes.

Regardless of the storyline, I think it would be cool if you'd be able to take 2 different paths in the game. Either you end up assisting in summoning Diablo back from the abyss, of you end up in the teams from Heaven where you'd be doing everything you can to prevent that from happening. It would open the door to some more pvp like game as well (they are expanding the pvp content a lot in WoW recently, and it might well be that they want to take this route in D3 - more like DAoC in that regard).

As I understand it, the soulstone was just what allowed the prime evils to manifest themselves in the mortal realm. Defeating them and destroying the soulstones I don't think actually destroys them permanently, it just sends them back to hell without a way to return to the mortal plane.

Also, Baal merged his soulstone with the world stone, thus corrupting it, which is why the final cinimatic is Tyreal destroying the worldstone in order to destroy Baal's soulstone. So we saw that destroyed. We personally destroyed mephisto's and the cinimatic after act 4 shows us that Diablo's was destroyed as well.

My personal thought is that Diablo 3 will involve a betrayal by the forces of heaven that allow the prime evils to have influence again. Or the destruction of the worldstone takes away the barriers between heaven, earth and hell.

And if it's going to be an MMO (which is a very good possibility), then there will be tons of story that we haven't even dreamed of.

As I understand it, the soulstone was just what allowed the prime evils to manifest themselves in the mortal realm. Defeating them and destroying the soulstones I don't think actually destroys them permanently, it just sends them back to hell without a way to return to the mortal plane.

Also, Baal merged his soulstone with the world stone, thus corrupting it, which is why the final cinimatic is Tyreal destroying the worldstone in order to destroy Baal's soulstone. So we saw that destroyed. We personally destroyed mephisto's and the cinimatic after act 4 shows us that Diablo's was destroyed as well.

My personal thought is that Diablo 3 will involve a betrayal by the forces of heaven that allow the prime evils to have influence again. Or the destruction of the worldstone takes away the barriers between heaven, earth and hell.

And if it's going to be an MMO (which is a very good possibility), then there will be tons of story that we haven't even dreamed of.

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Good point. I stand corrected in regards to Baal's Soulstone. I agree with your idea on the betrayal in Heaven.
A point to consider: If indeed the destruction of the Worldstone removes the barriers between Heaven, Earth, and Hell, and if destroying a Prime Evil's Soulstone only sends them back to Hell, seems like they may very still be around.

Regardless of the storyline, I think it would be cool if you'd be able to take 2 different paths in the game. Either you end up assisting in summoning Diablo back from the abyss, of you end up in the teams from Heaven where you'd be doing everything you can to prevent that from happening. It would open the door to some more pvp like game as well (they are expanding the pvp content a lot in WoW recently, and it might well be that they want to take this route in D3 - more like DAoC in that regard).

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no, please god no.

Diablo is a PvE game first. It'll screw up the balance and we've seen it in other games like Guild Wars and WoW.

I think it would be cool if players could have allegiances to some orders greater than themselves. (Not necessarily restricted to class, either)

These orders wouldn't always see eye-to-eye, but I think that all orders (and thus all players) should have the same ultimate goal - to rescue the human race from the evils which seek to destroy it.

About Heaven, should it appear in D3 - I think it would make sense for there to be a betrayal in Heaven, since Izual could easily still have followers there, under cover - but not a betrayal of Heaven, as in Heaven deciding to betray humanity and screwing them over. Wouldn't be much of a Heaven, than, would it? Heaven's supposed to be the home of good. We've seen plenty of good things get corrupted in D and D2, it would be nice if something would stand out and refuse to fall to evil.

But sleeper agents in heaven, awaiting Izual's freedom - that would be a cool plot device imo. Suddenly, their master is free again, and the worldstone has just been destroyed. Maybe now they have a perfect chance to do some dimensional boundary-twisting, bypassing sanctuary entirely and opening a route for a direct assault on Heaven. The day could look lost, except that Tyrael knows a few friends on Sanctuary and calls once again for help. That would provide a plot context for a player's character to be fighting in heaven levels...

Hopefully we can actually play along with or at least see Tyrael (or other angels) in action (and the cinematic does not count - although it did look pretty cool).

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Talking about Tyrael he got the biggest chance to get corrupted (see Izual). At the moment when he destroyed Worldstone something could go wrong.

Thinking about fallen angels this aspect definitely will be implemented in storyline . Developing Diablo they study a lot of mythology, demonology, tradition and rituals of different countries. They created very nice story based on living myths so it is not completely just stupid fairy tale.

Worldstone:
This is the primary link that will support Diablo III's storyline. Considering that all the NPC's say in Diablo II that they do not know what is going to happen now that the Worldstone is destroyed, Blizzard has left the door very wide open for a new plot.

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AND who said that storyline will start from here? They could make story what happened before and how it all started. In this way they resolve many problems including boss resurrection. Its like in StarWars, show story backwards.

The Worldstone was created by the rebel angel Inarius to hide his world of Sanctuary from the view of Heaven. With Mephisto slain and the Worldstone shattered, Inarius would no longer be bound by the chains of the Lord of Hatred...

The Worldstone hid Sanctuary from Heaven, and equally it was also hidden from the view of the minions of Hell. With the Worldstone destroyed, and Sanctuary in full view of both Heaven and Hell, the war between the two sides is taken to new land as both extremes fight for eternal victory. Belial and Azmodan bring their civil war to new battle grounds as they fight amongst themselves to conquer the most new land and become the most powerful demon lord, following the Slaying of The Three.

Inarius, now corrupted, is released by his former lover Lillith to wreak havoc upon the earthly plain. Will Inarius be bent on destroying Tyrael for destroying his creation? Or does Inarius recall his ancient hatred for his new master? How does Heaven view Tyrael's actions? He is not allowed to interfere in the affairs of men, but has exposed the false covering over the window of the human realm.

What of Mephisto's son, Lucion? He will bring the vengeful fury and hateful wrath of hell upon those that defeated his father. Will he seek his sister, Lillith, to join him and command Inarius' demon army's assault on Sanctuary?

Warring factions of Hell on earth. Factions of Heaven with ulterior motives. The humans caught in the struggle for their lands and lives. The greatest heroes from the corners of the land from all walks of life bound together to fight all that attempts to corrupt and poison their heritage and families. Who can assist them? Will Izual's freed spirit join forces with Tyrael to defend the gates of Heaven from the onslaught of Pain, Anguish, Lies, Sin, Hatred, Destruction and Terror?

And Diablo... He had before been only an essence... a nightmare in the dreams of a king and his son. With Hell invading the land of Sanctuary, there will be ample terror from which to draw power .... we have been hearing screams on the wind, hints of terror floating through the darkness of night, and tales of evil lurking about....